This infrastructural capture highlights the importance of ensuring a robust international media ecology committed to public service values as an alternative. In parallel, research and development of future technologies demands strong streams of innovation focused on the public good. Addressing these global problems requires unprecedented international collaboration to develop key strategies and technologies.

The Melbourne events, organised by Georgina Born (UCL), Mark Andrejevic (Monash), Fernando Diaz (Carnegie Mellon) and James Meese (RMIT), will present and discuss evidence-based options for addressing the challenges posed by new distribution platforms, the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence, and the tensions between personalisation and public service principles.

We aim to address such major challenges as:

• Balancing personalisation and universality (shared experience) in content and curation 
• New public service distribution platforms
• Redefining public service media, potentially to include social media, search, and LLM applications, and 
• How public interest infrastructures and technologies can be developed in alternative ways, without relying on established global commercial counterparts.

The Melbourne events will showcase alternative tech research projects addressing these challenges, some developed in partnership with public service media organisations, and requiring only low resources. 

Following the Melbourne symposium, a larger ‘summit’ will be held in London on September 3-4, 2026.

For more information or to register your interest, please email matilda.knowles@monash.edu.